


Bookstores, Bikeshops, & Bakeries

by RaisinOatmealCookie



Series: Bookstores, Bikeshops, & Bakeries [1]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Small Town, And they were ROOMMATES (oh my god, Anxiety | Virgil Sanders is a Little Shit, Citruscore (shush, Cottagecore Patton, Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders & Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders Are Twins, Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders Shows Up At The End, Dark Academia Logan, Deceit | Janus Sanders is a Good Friend, M/M, Morality | Patton Sanders Needs a Hug, Nonbinary Deceit | Janus Sanders, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Roommates, Sleep | Remy Sanders is a Little Shit, They/Them Pronouns for Deceit | Janus Sanders, Virgil is kinda dumb, it can be a thing if I want) Janus, they were roommates)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-02
Updated: 2021-02-13
Packaged: 2021-03-12 03:09:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,724
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28503528
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RaisinOatmealCookie/pseuds/RaisinOatmealCookie
Summary: Remus Green moved to a small town called Starlyte in order to find his twin brother, for they were separated as kids. There he befriends two bike shop owners, a couple of bakers, and a librarian, who help him get by in this new town.Updates Every Saturday
Relationships: Anxiety | Virgil Sanders/Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders, Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders/Logic | Logan Sanders, Deceit | Janus Sanders/Morality | Patton Sanders
Series: Bookstores, Bikeshops, & Bakeries [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2160666
Comments: 8
Kudos: 59





	1. One

Starlyte was a beautiful town. The only vehicles on the streets were bicycles and the occasional streetcar, it was flooding (figuratively, of course) with local businesses, and every little building and every little landmark were held as sacred to the people that lived there.

In short, it was a great little town.

And Remus Green was ecstatic about moving there. Though, not for any of the reasons just listed.

His brother lived in this town. 

They were adopted by two different families as babies, and after twenty two years, Remus was still looking. Still trying to see if his brother was out there.

He had a friend that moved to Starlyte a year before. And they met Remus' twin brother, and helped the siblings contact each other by exchanging phone numbers. 

And now, after so many years, Remus was finally going to be able to meet him.

So, Remus rented an apartment in the town, one close to his new job at a bicycle repair shop. And now he was finally going to meet his own brother.

~~~

"Still no answer."

Remus sat on the kitchen counter in his new apartment, looking down at his phone. It had been a week since he arrived at Starlyte, and his brother had suddenly stopped responding to all of his texts and calls.

"Did you do that thing you do where you say something that's really weird and expect people to not get weirded out by it?" Remus' best friend, Janus asked as they were sitting down on the couch.

"Maybe, but I tried really hard not to say anything weird." Though, he knew that there weren't many other possible explanations.

"Give it a week, then," Janus suggested. "If that doesn't work, then I don't know."

"I was really looking forward to this. And now it might not happen at all." Remus set his phone down next to where he was sitting. "I mean, I moved to a brand new town in a new state, just for this."

"Like I said, give it a few days. I'm sure there's a reason he's not answering."

"The reason is probably that I'm too weird for his basic self and now I must go stick my hand in a blender, so that way, this will no longer be a big problem in comparison."

"Remus, don't."

"Too late," Remus said, only half joking. "I'm going to the store and buying a blender now."

"Remus-" Janus stood up and crossed their arms. "Just wait a little while. If there's still no reply, then you can accept that you moved to a new town for nothing."

Remus sighed and got off the counter. "Sure, Jan," he said, before starting to pace. "I still just don't understand how hard it is to send a simple text. Something like, 'hey, I didn't abandon you,' or 'Sorry, I meant to respond sooner. I'm still here, though.' You can't just ignore every text."

"He probably has a valid reason. Now, if you're done complaining, I need to go to work," Janus said, adjusting the sleeves of their light grey cardigan.

"I probably should, too."

"Come by the bakery tonight. You need a break from worrying about this."

Remus grabbed his green jacket off the hook by the door and started to put it on. "Yeah, I will. Plus, I still need to meet that boyfriend of yours, anyway. Honestly, I'm still not convinced he exists."

"Sure, Remus. Because I _totally_ didn't send you pictures of us together."

"Photoshop exists."

"I haven't been able to use Photoshop my entire life, and you know it."

~~~

"Good morning, fellow loser," Remus greeted his co-worker as he walked into work. The "Bike Bros' Bike Shop" was the name of the place, owned by Virgil Andrews and Remy Dormir, aka the only other people that worked there. 

"Hey, Remus," Virgil said, taking off his gloves and grabbing the coffee cup off his desk. "I've got everything done that we didn't finish yesterday."

"You should've told me that you'd be in early to finish, I'd come and help."

"It was only a little. Besides, there will be plenty more today."

"When's Remy coming in?"

Virgil set his cup down and shrugged. "Knowing him? Eventually."

"Wow, that's specific," Remus said sarcastically.

~~~

Virgil was right. Remy did show up eventually. By eventually, I mean noon, six hours after he was supposed to be there.

But it was a slow day, as most days were, so it didn't matter all that much. And it's not like he was going to fire himself.

After work, Remus decided to head over to the bakery like Janus suggested.

He stood outside the pale blue building, looking up at the sign that spelled "The Pat-isserie" in cursive letters.  
He walked inside the bakery, seeing only one other person sitting at a table. It was a man with curly brown hair, wire rimmed glasses, and a dark blue turtleneck. His dark brown coat was draped over the back of his chair.

Remus looked around, before hearing the person speak. "You have to ring the bell for service," they said, not looking up from their book.

"Huh?"

The man pointed to the counter, where a sign said, "Ring Bell for Service," with a small diner bell in front of it. Remus lightly tapped it, but the sound was loud and high pitched anyway.

Someone started to open the door that connected the storefront and kitchen before yelling, "Fuck, my croissants!" and they ran back into the kitchen.  
"I've got the croissants, Pat!" a familiar voice called from the kitchen. 

"You really need to stop forgetting about the croissants, Patton!" the man at the table called out, still not taking his eyes off the book in front of him.  
The person from the kitchen walked back into the front, leaning against the counter with a smile. "Sorry about that, I forgot that I didn't leave a timer on the oven," he said with a subtle french accent. His white apron had "Patton" embroidered on the front pocket, with blue flowers embroidered all around the edges that matched the light blue shirt he wore. Remus recognized him from the pictures Janus sent him "Welcome to The Pat-isserie, I'm Pat! What can I get for you?"

"Oh, I-" Remus looked down at the display case in front of him. "I didn't think this far ahead. What do you suggest?"

"The croissants are my specialty, but we've got a nice fresh batch of sugar cookies that just got iced a couple of minutes ago. They look like little sunflowers, isn't that adorable?" Patton said, pointed to a yellow frosted cookie in the display case. "But, in my personal opinion, everything we have is great. They're all made with love!"

This was the man Janus said they, "instantly clicked with?" Remus trusted his friend's judgment, but Patton was the exact opposite of Janus.

Remus looked back down at the display case before a slice of coffee cake caught his eye. It had always been his favorite. "Can I get two slices of coffee cake?" he asked, pointing down at the slice on display.

"Absolutely! Anything else?" 

"No, thank you."

"That's going to be two dollars," Patton said with a spot-on customer service voice. "I'll go get them boxed up for you."

"Actually, it's for here. No box needed."

"Well, I'll bring them out on a plate, then." Patton smiled and started to go back into the kitchen. 

Remus reached into his wallet to pull out two dollar bills before Patton came back out of the kitchen with a plate of two neatly cut slices of coffee cake. Remus held out the money for Patton to take, and Patton gave him the cake. "Enjoy!" he said enthusiastically. 

"I'll try my best," Remus said with good nature. He sat down at a table on the opposite side of the room as the man reading his book. He grabbed the plastic fork that had been handed to him with the cake and went to take a bite. It was really good.

Patton came back out into the front and yelled over to the other man, "Logan, the croissants are ready!"

The man, Logan, closed his book and put it in his bag, not bothering to mark what page he was on, and walked over to the counter, opening his wallet as Patton set down a paper bag with a Pat-isserie label onto the counter. "Sorry it was such a wait," Patton apologized.

"It's no bother at all, Patton. I enjoy having a little while to read in this sort of environment. Plus, the bakery smells fantastic all the time."

"You could say-"

"Oh, please don't."

"It smells-" Patton paused as if for dramatic affect, "pan-tastic!"

"Patton, you're going to be the death of me."

"Aw, sorry, Logan, I didn't mean to cause you any," Patton stopped, almost doubling over with laughter. "I didn't mean to cause you any pain."

"Please, Patton."

Remus tried to stifle his laughter. "Wow, you really are no fun, huh, Mr. Serious Man?" he said, to himself, but he looked up to see Logan looking at him. He must've heard him. "Oh. Sorry, I didn't realize you were- frick."

"What's your name?" Logan asked.

"Oh, I'm Remus Green. I just moved here last week."

"A pleasure to meet you, Mr. Green. My name is Logan Brinton. I own the library on South Street."

"No need for such formalities, Brinton. You can just call me Remus."

"Well, Remus, I'm afraid I have places to be, but I'm sure we'll run into each other again," Logan said, putting on his coat.

"Alright, I'll see ya around, Mr. Serious Man."

Logan took his bag of croissants from Patton and left the bakery.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is the third multi chapter fic I've worked on (though it's the first I'm posting here) and I'm really excited to finally be posting it!  
> The base of this fic is basically just "What if the sides' designs were based on some cool aesthetics that I like?" And now we're here.  
> Hope you guys enjoy the fic. 💜 ~Aberdeen


	2. Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I'm posting this a day late, I'm sorry.

Remus sat on a bench outside the bakery, scrolling through his text messages. He had to find where he went wrong with his brother. What on earth did he say to make him stop responding completely? The last thing he sent him before the other stopped texting back was just, _"I still can't believe we're going to meet each other!!! _" Were the exclamation points too much, maybe?__

__"Penny for your thoughts?"_ _

__Remus looked up to see Janus standing next to the bench. The sleeves of their cardigan were covered in flour, and they had a white apron with their name and yellow flowers the same shade of their dress embroidered on it, similar to the apron Patton was wearing earlier._ _

__"My thoughts are worth more than a penny, and you know it," Remus said, eyes still looking back down at his phone screen every few seconds._ _

__"Have you stopped worrying yet?"_ _

__"You can't just ask that, because even if I weren't, checking to see would make me start worrying again."_ _

__"Alright, fine. I see you met Patton."_ _

__"Yes, I did. Didn't see him as your type, though."_ _

__"What do you mean?"_ _

__"He's so peppy," Remus elaborated. "Or is that just the classic fake customer service act?"_ _

__"No, he's like that all the time." Janus sat on the bench next to Remus. "Well, not all the time, but often."_ _

__"Well, if he's the one your heart decided to love, then I won't argue. But I should still probably meet him outside of his work environment, you know? So I can make sure he passes the, 'cool enough to date my best friend' test."_ _

__Janus rolled their eyes, not bothering to respond to Remus' statement._ _

__"On a semi-unrelated note, what's up with the price of stuff in there? I got coffee cake for a dollar per slice."_ _

__"It's just that one thing."_ _

__Remus finally turned off his phone and put it into his pocket. "Okay, but why? Why underprice one thing?"_ _

__"There's this long explanation he always gives, but basically, that's always been his favorite," they started to explain. "He grew up in a poor family. Like, to the point where he didn't know when his next meal would be. And he could never afford his favorite food. When he was old enough, he got a stable job, and after years he was able to open the bakery, and uses lots of his profit to help his family and other people in the town that were in similar situations to him. Once he learned to make coffee cake, he made it the lowest price he could, basically only enough money to cover ingredients. He says that he feels like he's being petty with the universe this way."_ _

__"That's weird."_ _

__"He's very... passionate."_ _

__"He's weird. You're dating a weirdo."_ _

__"Remus, you're not allowed to talk about people being weird," Janus said. "Besides, it's not weird. It's kind. Something you wouldn't know anything about."_ _

__"No need to be rude, J-Dude, I was just pointing something out."_ _

__"By calling my boyfriend a weirdo."_ _

__"Sorry, sorry. I guess a weirdo such as yourself could only get a weirdo to date them."_ _

__Janus scoffed. "My break's over, so if you could excuse me, I have things to do."_ _

__"You're the one who came out here in the first place, so, I'll leave you to that."_ _

__~~~_ _

__"Good morning, y'all." Remy walked into work with a carrier of coffee at 6, the next morning. Virgil and Remus were already both at work, having gotten in early, working on the bikes on their work stands._ _

__"You're early," Virgil pointed out._ _

__"Excuse you, but I am right on time," Remy said, setting the drink carrier down and handing Virgil one of the cups._ _

__"I mean that it's early for you."_ _

__"So I'm late occasionally, whatever. What are you going to do about it? Fire me?"_ _

__"I've considered it."_ _

__"You can't even do that. I'm co-owner. Plus, if I'm gone, who's gonna be the receptionist? Remus? He probably doesn't know basic math."_ _

__Remus feigned offence. "Remy, how dare you? I know basic math. Two times three is, like, eight or something. Or maybe it's seven?"_ _

__"This is my point," Remy said, gesturing to Remus._ _

__"I'm kidding. You think I actually don't know what two times three is?"_ _

__"Really? Then what is it-"_ _

__"Six, you absolute-"_ _

__"Both of you shut up," Virgil interrupted. "Remy, go to the desk. Remus, keep working. I'm sick and tired of both of you."_ _

__"You can't boss me around-"_ _

__"Start showing up on time every day, and we'll talk about it."_ _

__Remy scoffed and turned around, walking towards the front room with a huff. "I'm going to go open the shop."_ _

__"You do that."_ _

__"Are you two always like this, or just when I'm here?" Remus asked after Remy left the room._ _

__"Oh, he's been like this since before we opened the place. Maybe even since he was born."_ _

__"I can imagine tiny Remy walking around drinking coffee, being annoyingly sassy, and wearing those stupid sunglasses-"_ _

__"They're prescription," Virgil said. "He needs glasses but doesn't want people to stereotype him as a nerd, so he just wears his prescription sunglasses all the time."_ _

__Remus fought back a snicker. "I don't even know how I'm supposed to respond to that."_ _

__"Ever since I found out, I just started mocking him for being an absolute idiot."_ _

__"How does he drive at night?"_ _

__"He doesn't. You're literally the only one in this building that knows how to drive, you stupid city boy."_ _

__"Wait, I need to go mock him."_ _

__"Please do."_ _

__Remus opened the door to the front room. "Remy, you freaking dumb- oh there's a person here." Remus cut his words short when he saw someone standing in front of the receptionist desk. It was the man from the bakery. Logan? Yeah, that was his name._ _

__"Oh, Remus, I didn't know you worked here," Logan said._ _

__Remus shut the door behind him and walked over to Remy's desk. "Oh, yeah, I've always done mechanic work. But I just started working here when I moved here." He put his hands into the pockets of his green jacket. "It's nice to see you again, though, but I should head back to the garage, now-"_ _

__"Remus, Logan just needs a tire inflated, so it'd be nice if you could quickly do that so he can be on his way," Remy said, looking down at his computer, which Remus could tell from where he was standing that he wasn't using it for work purposes. "We just discussed payment so you just need to fix that, if you can."_ _

__"Uh, yeah, I can do that."_ _

__Logan had his bike leaned against the building out front. Remus took it back to the garage and hooked the tire up to the air pump._ _

__He brought it back around to the front of the building after he was done, and went inside to get Logan._ _

__"Hey, Brinton, the tires inflated."_ _

__"Fantastic. Thank you."_ _

__"We'll see you later, Logan." Remy waved from his desk._ _

__"I hope that's to your satisfaction, or whatever," Remus said after they were outside._ _

__"Very much so, thank you." Logan looked over the now inflated bike tire, nodding in approval. "Well, since you work here, I know I'll be seeing you often."_ _

__"You come here a lot?"_ _

__"Well, other than the fact that I'm friends with Remy and Virgil, my bike often needs repairs, just like everyone else who has one in our city. It's not like we have many other alternatives to get around."_ _

__"Oh. I didn't think about that."_ _

__"Well, I should get going." Logan held the bike by the handlebars and waved at Remus. "Goodbye, Remus," he said, before starting to walk away, bicycle at his side._ _

__"Bye, Brinton! Don't get run over!"_ _

__Logan turned around momentarily. "I wasn't planning on it!"_ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this chapter pretty much sums up how the bike shop boys are… 24/7
> 
> Also, not sure if you can tell, but I only know, like, five things about fixing bikes, so bare with me, y'all.


	3. Three

"So he's going to be gone for another week?"

Remus walked into work while Virgil and Remy were having a conversation. He was late by thirty minutes, because his alarm didn't go off.

Virgil was sitting at the rusty metal desk in the garage. "If the snow doesn't let up by Friday, yeah."

"Hey, you two, what's happening?"

"Virgil's stupid boyfriend is gonna be in Chicago for two weeks," Remy said, leaning against the wall behind Virgil.

"A town near Chicago," Virgil corrected. "He's a theatre teacher at the highschool, and they have this week-long competition there."

"Oh, that blizzard hit them?"

"Yup. Now the roads are too iced over for the bus to drive on, and the arts center that's holding the competition is completely snowed in. So it's postponed until they can fix that."

"Well, at least he hasn't frozen to death."

"I doubt he will. People who live here can handle cold weather."

"I can't. I'm from Florida, and I can't even handle fifty degrees."

"Correction: people from here can handle cold weather."

"Touché."

Remy took a sip of his coffee. "I should probably get back to work," he said, starting to leave the room.

"Yeah, we all probably should," Virgil agreed, standing up and stretching out his arms. "Alright, we've only gotten one client today, and I've got that covered, so if you could take garage cleaning duty for today, that'd be great," he said to Remus.

"Alright, captain."

"Don't call me that."

"Apologies, captain."

~~~

Remus got off work later and started back towards his apartment. He took a streetcar to work, but he just felt like walking back. Besides, it wasn't too far away.  
He kept walking until he saw a sign with a familiar name. "South Street." Wasn't that the street Logan said the library was on?

Well, a detour wouldn't cause any harm.

Remus walked down the street, looking at the buildings until he came across one with a large blue sign with "Starlyte Library" written in calligraphy font.

He entered the building, and saw rows of wooden bookshelves that matched the dark hardwood floor. There was a large desk near the wall, and Logan was sitting behind it, wearing an off-white dress shirt and a plain dark blue tie.

Remus let his eyes wander around the room as he approached the desk. 

"Hey, Brinton."

"Oh, Remus, It's nice to see you," Logan said, standing up. "What brings you here? We were just about to close, but I can still get you whatever you need."

"Oh, I just wanted to look around the place, but if you're about to close-"

"Oh, it's fine. I keep the place open a little longer for friends all the time. And we're friends, no? I can show you around, if you'd like."

"That would actually be nice."

"Fantastic," Logan said, walking out from behind the desk. "Now, this is the front desk where people check out books, and where I do all of my work. Over here-" Logan started walking past Remus to the wall to the right of the door. "-are the computers that everyone can use." The wall had three tables side by side, six desktop computers in total. "We've got a decent selection of movies over there," Logan said, pointing to one corner of the room.

"And next to that is the children's books, and the young adult fiction section is over in that corner, and next to that is the young adult non-fiction section."

"Is that everything?" Remus asked. "I honestly thought there'd be more. Shoot, that sounded rude. I just mean-"

"There's more upstairs." Logan calmly walked across the room to the young adults books, where a staircase was. Remus stood at the bottom, and looked up, seeing an entire other floor of books. "Come on, Remus," Logan said, starting up the stairs.

"I'm right behind you, Brinton." Remus followed Logan up the staircase, taking two steps at a time. 

Logan stood at the top, looking down at Remus. "You're going to hurt yourself doing that."

"Am I?" Remus asked, still skipping over every other step.

"Trust me, Remus, I speak from experience."

"What'd you do?"

"I was in a hurry, so I was walking up the stairs to my apartment, two steps at a time, and I twisted my ankle," he admitted.

"Wow. You really are peak elegance and class, aren't you, Brinton?"

Logan didn't respond to that. "Anyway, up here we have literally everything else." He gestured to the rows and rows of wooden bookshelves.

"Wow." Remus slowly walked around, taking it all in. "There's so much. The library in my old town didn't have this much, and it was for an actual city." He walked around a table and stopped in front of one of the bookshelves, running his fingers over one of the book spines. 

"Remus?"

Remus looked up at Logan. "Oh, right. I should let you close, huh? I'll see you-"

"No, that's not-" Logan sighed. "I was wondering if you'd maybe like to go out in town with me tomorrow night?"

Remus nodded. "Yeah, sure. Where exactly are we going?" he asked.

"There's just so many places in Starlyte you've got to see. I can't even list them all-"

"Okay, Brinton, don't get too excited."

"Sorry."

"I was joking. You can be as excited as you want, I can't stop you."

"Oh. I'll pick you up tomorrow after you get off work." Logan took his phone out of his pocket. "Here, can you put your number in my phone?"

Remus took Logan's phone and entered his number into the new contact, before handing it back. "Alright, Brinton, I'll see you tomorrow," he said, then started walking down the stairs, and back outside.

He checked his phone for the time on the way home- 6:37- and noticed a text from an unsaved number.

XXX-XXX: "Hi, it's Logan."

Remus opened his messaging and sent a text back. 

Remus: "Hey, Brinton! I'm saving your number to my contacts now." 

He opened his contacts app and put in the new number.

Brinton: "Fantastic. I just wanted to make sure I pick you up at the right time tomorrow."

Remus: "I'm off work at 6."

Brinton: "Great. I'll see you then."

Remus: "See ya!" 

Remus smiled as he put his phone away and continued walking home.


	4. Chapter 4

Logan walked into the bikeshop at six pm the next day. Virgil was in the front room, grabbing his jacket from behind the receptionist desk.

"Oh, Logan, we were just closing," he said, putting on his jacket.

"I'm aware. I'm simply here to pick up Remus before we go out."

"Oh, you two have a date?"

Logan shook his head quickly. "No, no, of course not. I don't like him. I mean… I don't like him like that. I like him, but like… as a friend. We're just going out, but like… friends. Just friends."

"You're denying it too much to be believable. A simple 'no' would be fine."

"Shoot."

"Well, he'll be out here in a minute. I have to get going."

"Goodbye, Virgil."

Virgil nodded and left the building.

The door to the garage opened and Remus stepped into the front room. "Oh, Brinton, you're here! Let me grab my jacket and we can go," he said, grabbing his green army-style jacket off the coat hook, and putting it on. "So, where to first?"

"Well, there's this nice cafe down the street, since it's around dinner time, anyway, if that's okay with you?" Logan asked.

"Great. Lead the way, I guess."

~~~

Everything was going great. Everywhere they went, Remus fell in love with. The cafe, the gardens, the park, all the little shops that lined the street. The only thing lighting the town was the lights from inside the buildings, shining out the windows, and the stars above them.

"There's just one more spot we need to see," Logan said. "Then we can take a streetcar back to the apartment complex."

"Good plan."

"I know this whole… thing is probably boring to you, but this is going to make it worth it, trust me."

"I'm not bored. This has been amazing. Thank you, Logan."

"Oh, you're calling me by my first name now?"

"I did no such thing, Brinton."

"Well, we're only a few minutes away. Come on."

They walked down the streets of Starlyte, breathing in the cold air. There was a bridge over a thin river, and Remus kept walking across it before he felt Logan grab him by the arm.

"We're here."

"The river?"

"This is one of my favorite places," Logan said. "I like to stop by every day after work."

Remus looked down at the river, where the ripples in the water made it seem as if the stars' reflections were dancing across it.

"You know, I think I start to love this town a little more every day."

"I don't blame you. I've been here since I was born, and I wouldn't give it up for anything."

"Me either."

"So, tell me about your hometown."

"Eh, it was a small city in Florida. The only notable thing about it was the traffic and the beach, and I don't even like the beach."

"What's it like?"

"Hmm?"

"The beach. I've never been."

"Well, it's really hot and windy, and there's sand everywhere and it gets all over you and the water smells extremely salty and-" Remus stopped and looked over at Logan, who had his eyes closed and a small smile on his face. "And the waves are calming, both with how they feel and sound. And the sun is nice and warm on your face. And the sand underneath your feet feels amazing."

"I like that. I should go sometime."

"Not this time of year, though. The water's too cold."

"I can handle the cold."

"You say that until you go into the water and instantly get hypothermia and freeze to death."

"I'll take my chances."

"Good luck with that, then."


	5. Five

Remus felt like he was going to scream. He wasn't able to pay rent. And now he was going to be evicted, and he'd have to live on the streets, and live off of moldy food and things you're not supposed to eat at all like a little rat. Not that he minded being compared to a rat, but he did prefer to have a house. Rats could live in houses too. That's the kind of rat he would want to be.

But unless he could get enough money by the end of the week, he was screwed. Maybe Jan would be willing to loan him some money…

"Remus, are you okay?"

Remus picked his head off the coffee shop table to see Logan looking down at him, and starting to take off his dark brown coat.

"Hey, Brinton," Remus returned the greeting. "I am not, thank you for asking."

Logan sat down in the chair next to him. "Would you mind elaborating?"

"Dude, I am way too tired for your smart people vocab."

"Elaborate is fifth grade vocabulary-" Logan stopped and sighed. "What I mean is would you please tell me  _ why _ you're not feeling okay?"

"Do rats have to pay rent?"

"I wouldn't think so, no. Are you planning on becoming a rat anytime soon?"

"Yeah, I've been considering it."

"Well, make sure to tell me how it goes. I'd love to hear about the first successful human to rodent transformation." Logan leaned back in his chair. "So this is all because of rent, I'm assuming?"

"I don't have enough. And I made sure to get the cheapest available apartment."

"Understandable. I, too, would rather be a rat than be evicted."

"I knew I wasn't being unreasonable. You're smart, right? Know any way to turn me into the best rodent in the world?"

"I do not, no," Logan said, looking contemplative. "But, I  _ have _ been looking for a roommate. Make rent easier on me  _ and  _ them. I might as well put the spare bedroom to use."

"Really?"

"Would you be interested?"

"Definitely! This is great! I'm off work tomorrow, so I can go talk to my landlord about moving out, and we can do this."

"Fantastic. And once we get it all worked out, I'll help you move."

"You have no idea how much this means to me."

"It's really no trouble. It works in both of our favors, honestly."

~~~

"When you said you didn't have much that needed to be moved, this was  _ not _ what I was expecting."

Remus stood at the foot of his bed, putting some t-shirts into his green duffle bag. "I left most of my stuff back home with my moms in Florida, and I was going to pick it all up another day. But for now, this is what I've got."

"Clothes and necessities."

"And my electronics," Remus said, picking up his laptop to prove his point.

"And your electronics, apparently."

"And besides, it's not like your apartment doesn't have any furniture, right?" 

"It has furniture, yes."

"Then there's no problem." Remus took the pillow off his bed and started wrapping it in the large black blanket, so he wouldn't have to put it in a bag. "And I'll get the rest of my things when I visit home in a few months." He zipped up the duffle bag and looked around the near empty apartment. "Well, I'm all ready, now."

"Great. We can take a streetcar to my apartment building and you can unpack, and I'll show you around the place."

"Good plan, good plan."

~~~

The second Remus stepped into Logan's- their apartment, he was hit with a wave of nice smells; vanilla and cinnamon with a faint trace of the "old book smell."

There was a brown leather couch pushed up against the wall, with a book covered coffee table in front of it.

The living room was connected to the kitchen, and there were two doors on each side of the couch.

"I didn't tidy up as much as I could have, but I can do so while you're unpacking, if that's alright."

"Eh, it's fine, really. It's cozy in here."

"I'm glad you like it. Considering that you're going to be living here too, it needs to be up to your own standards as well as mine," Logan said. "Now, the door on the right side of the couch leads to your room. I assume you don't need help unpacking?"

"No, I'm good."

"Great. I'll let you get settled in, and I'll go and pick up dinner. I trust that you won't do anything stupid while I'm gone."

"I'm doing stupid things twenty-four seven, Brinton, you should know this."

"Don't do anything stupid."

"I won't, I promise."

~~~

"And that, my friend, is how Jan and I got banned from every Olive Garden in Alabama."

Logan set his empty plate on the coffee table. "I would say that's crazy, but it's honestly pretty in character."

"Thank you," Remus said. "My mum grounded me for a month after that. Ah, the good days when I wasn't able to get away with anything."

"So you think that you can just do whatever you want now that you're an adult?"

"Well, no. But there are less rules once you move out. No curfew, no 'you have to be fifteen before you're allowed to date anyone,' no more-"

"You had to be fifteen before your parents let you date?"

"Yeah, but it was reasonable. Besides, I didn't really care. I didn't date anyone until I was sixteen. And it didn't last very long."

"How long, then?"

"Two years. It was a dumb high school relationship. We both still loved each other, but we couldn't handle long distance, and they were moving away, so-" he stopped and shrugged.

"How far did they move from Florida?"

"Here."

"Here?" Logan asked. "As in  _ this _ town, or just nearby? This state?"

"They moved here. It was, uh-" he stopped and set down his own plate. "It was Janus, actually."

"You two?"

"Surprised?"

"A little. Whenever I know people who used to date, it seems like they're really awkward around each other. You two just get along so well from what I've seen, and from what Janus has told me themselves."

"What have they told you?"

"That you're their best friend, and you both get along really well."

"Well, we've properly moved on, I guess." Remus sighed and leaned back on the couch. "What about you? Any past relationships from good ol' Brinton?"

Logan shook his head. "No, not really."

"Well, you're only, what? Twenty something? You've got time. I'll bet you'll find a special person by the end of the year."

"It's December, Remus."

"What can I say, I'm optimistic."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know nothing about how houses or apartments work, in case you couldn't tell


End file.
